Take Me With You
by EternalRandomChick
Summary: Aerith mourns after Zack's death and wishes to join him in the Lifestream.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yes, I am well aware that I should be on hiatus, given the note I put on my profile a few days ago. However, due to the fact that winter weather has placed me under house arrest for the next few days, I thought that I should use this time to go ahead and finish some stories that have been hanging over my head for a while. This particular one is a two-parter, and I already have the second part written; expect that in the next couple of days.**

**Oh, by the way, if any of you are ****_Doctor Who_**** fans, I make a few subtle references to the heartwrenching 2006 finale episode "Doomsday." Just a word of warning.**

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><p>It was now a month to the day since Aerith had felt the Planet weep along with her as Zack made his way back to the Lifestream. She untied the ribbon in her braid, brought the simple scrap of fabric up and clutched it to her heart, allowing a few silent tears to trail down her cheeks.<p>

After several moments of silent mourning, she shakily brought the ribbon to her lips and pressed a tear-filled kiss to it, wishing that it were not the ribbon that she was kissing in sorrow, but that she was joyously kissing the lips of her SOLDIER and he was responding with even more enthusiasm than she thought he even had. But her wishes were futile, she knew. Wishing would not bring him back to life, to her.

"I miss you so much, Zack," she sobbed, holding her ribbon to her heart once again, as though the memento that he had given her would begin to heal the gaping hole left in her heart.

Strong, yet transparent arms wrapped around her from behind in an embrace that might have been comforting if she could have actually felt it. "I miss you, too, Aerith," Zack murmured in her ear. "Probably more than you can guess."

The flower girl froze when she heard him, his name coming from her lips as a stuttering sob. She had dreamed of him so often in the last four years and even more over this past month - dreams in which he was holding her, caressing her, whispering promises in her ear that she wished he was here to keep in life - that she thought her sanity had finally snapped and was now beginning to project images of him into her waking world. A phantom kiss to her neck gave her emotions another sledgehammer blow. "You're wearing pink." Zack noticed. "I was right, it is a good color on you." By now, Aerith's knees had completely turned to water, and she would have fallen had not the body behind her become ever-so-slightly more corporeal; the arms around her waist became more firm, and she could just barely feel his muscular chest against her back, holding her up.

That did it for Aerith; she knew that no one could physically feel hallucinations. She turned around and placed her hand where his cheek would have been had he been a solid form. "I've worn pink every day, ever since you left for Nibelheim," she confessed. "I wanted to surprise you when you got back from your mission."

"That long, huh?" Zack asked, sounding as though he might have been laughing if the circumstances were more favorable. "Even though you thought it was silly when I first suggested it?"

Aerith sniffled and managed to force out a smile. "That's why I've worn pink," she said. "Because I thought that you wouldn't expect me to actually wear it after I told you that it was silly."

A moment of silence passed between the two before Aerith finally decided to ask, "How long have we got?"

"I don't know," Zack answered truthfully. "And I don't know if we're going to be able to see each other again until you join the Lifestream."

The poor flower girl nearly began sobbing again, and she clung to the ghost as best she could, since, truly, she had little more than air to grasp at. "I don't think I can do this," she whispered. "Please, take me with you! Bring me home to the Lifestream."

Zack seemed to freeze in shock at her request. "Aerith, I... Believe me, there's nothing want more than to be able to hold you again without having to concentrate just so you can feel even a whisper of my touch. But I can't bring you home to the Lifestream. Not yet." She looked up at him, hurt, rejection, and a hint of anger playing in her eyes. "If I took you with me now," he explained, "then I wouldn't be able to look at you without knowing that I was the reason that you were part of the Lifestream, and I couldn't bear that."

"Then I'll find some other way to come home!" Aerith nearly shrieked.

"Wait, wait, wait! Before you start trying to commit suicide, how about we make a deal?" Zack suggested. "You go on, live your life, and keep selling the flowers. Maybe one day, in a year or so, you'll meet someone else, a man who can take care of you better than I can right now."

"Could we make that part optional?" Aerith asked, and Zack chuckled a bit.

"Alright, meeting another man is optional," he whispered. "In return, on my end of our deal, I'll wait for you for however long it takes. And when the time comes for you to come home, I'll be there. I'll take you with me, and then I promise you that I'll be by your side for eternity. How 'bout it? You think eternity together might make up for however long we have to wait while you keep your end of the deal?"

The Cetra looked dubious for a moment before finally conceding, "It'll do."

A faint smile appeared on the ghost's face. "The deal is struck," he murmured in her ear, making himself corporeal enough for her to be able to feel a slight tingling sensation from his touch. "I'll be waiting for you."

Aerith sniffed, sensing that their time together for the rest of her time walking the Planet was almost over. "I love you."

Zack shifted so that he was looking her in the eyes and placed his hand under her chin. "Aerith Gainsborough," he began, but no sooner had he said her name than the Lifestream pulled him back. Despite the fact that she knew that Zack wouldn't want her to cry, she couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees, nor could she hold back a despairing wail when her love was ripped from her yet again.

She didn't go out and sell flowers that day.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, so here's the happy ending to "Take Me With You."**

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><p>A year had now passed since that day, and Aerith, now an honorary member of AVALANCHE, stood at the entrance to the Forgotten City of the Ancients. A weary sigh escaped her lips as she thought of the deal that she had made with Zack, the deal that she would have to break. She took a deep breath, trying not to think about her inevitable demise that was now so frighteningly near.<p>

"I'm sorry, Zack," she whispered shakingly as she walked forward, accepting her fate. "I know that our deal was for me to live a long, full life. But I think I might have to change that, since I'm the only one who can do anything to stop Meteorfall. I'd rather die knowing that I did everything in my power to give my friends and the Planet their best chance, than die along with nearly everyone else on the Planet and have my last thoughts be _'There was something that I could have done; why oh why didn't I do it?'_ I'm sorry, but it looks like I'll be coming home a little sooner than you wanted. I hope that, someday, you can forgive me."

She walked the rest of the way in silence, entering the house across the lake, descending the crystalline staircase to the magnificent sanctuary that, unlike the city above, had been perfectly preserved. Arriving at the altar in the very center of the capital, she knelt and prayed for Holy.

She didn't know how long she was there, begging the Planet to hear her pleas, but finally, she could feel the Ultimate White Magic begin to respond. She registered motion right in front of her and looked up to see Cloud, the man she had come to view as an older brother, standing there. She smiled sadly at him, for she knew that her end was now closer than ever.

As small gasp escaped her lips as Sephiroth drove Masamune straight through her. She had been expecting something like that, but getting a sword through the heart is never a pleasant experience. If she wasn't already so far gone, she would have screamed as the General drew the sword out of her with deliberate slowness, slicing her ribbon in two and freeing the White Materia from her hair. For several, terrifying moments, her world was only pain, fear, darkness, and _ohgodsithurtssomuch,_ _makeitstop__**pleasemakeitstop**__-_

And then the pain did stop and _he_ was there, kneeling in front of her, wrapping her in a familiar embrace that she had missed _oh,_ so much, stroking her chestnut braid (her ribbon having returned intact in death), and whispering sweet nothings of comfort in her ear.

"You're here," she breathed, partly in shock, for she had figured that he would be furious at her for breaking her part of their deal.

"I promised that I would be," he reminded her.

"I'm sorry."

"I know why you did it. You're too selfless for your own good."

"I don't think there's all that much I can do about it now."

The dais had long since been vacated by all except the two lingering souls. Aerith drew in a few (now unnecessary) deep breaths to get over the shock of the wound that had killed her before making to stand up. Zack, however, as soon as he felt her start to rise, tightened his grip around her waist. "I wouldn't recommend that," he told her.

"But- Holy... I.. I have to-" she began to protest, struggling to get up once more, but a wave of exhaustion and even slight nausea overcame her and she quickly retreated back to the safety of Zack's embrace with a weak shudder.

"I warned you," he whispered. "You have to get used to not needing a physical body anymore. It'll get better once you're actually in the Lifestream."

"The Planet... Holy," Aerith's voice came out barely more than a whisper. "It- I must..."

"Worrying about things still on the Planet is not going to make the process finish any faster." Zack informed her. "If anything, worrying only slows it down. I should know, I was worried about you and Cloud for weeks after those Shinra bastards gunned me down outside Midgar." Aerith's eyes were beginning to drift shut, but she still managed to whisper, "So this time... You'll take me with you?"

Zack smiled down at his love and kissed her forehead. "Why would you think otherwise?" He shifted her so that her head was resting comfortably on his shoulder before hooking one arm around her shoulders and one underneath her legs, scooping her up bridal style and standing in one fluid motion. He spread his wing, the one he had received upon his entrance to the Lifestream, and took off, making sure that Aerith was still tucked firmly against his chest.

The Cetra stirred slightly and opened her eyes when she felt the wind against her face. When she caught sight of his wing, she joked, "And you thought I was an angel when we first met, remember?" The man chuckled slightly and smiled at her before turning his head back to the green tendrils that were eagerly reaching down to them, not in a threatening way at all, but in a way to welcome the two home.

Zack was right, Aerith realized; she did feel better as soon as the Lifestream enveloped them, well enough that she felt confident that she would be able to stand on her own, at least for a short while.

Her SOLDIER gently set her on her feet in a flower field that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. Aerith would have been more than content with just the flowers, but a few meters in front of her was a cottage that had been brought straight out of a fairytale, complete with a thatched roof, a small river running out front, and even a water wheel on the left side.

"Oh, Zack, it's beautiful!" Aerith gasped, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him. "Did you do this?"

"I wanted to have a place ready for you," Zack explained with a slightly sheepish smile. "I've actually been working on this ever since we made our deal. I know it's not perfect, but..."

"Shh," Aerith cut him off with another kiss. "I love it. To me, it is perfect. Thank you."

She was still weak from her all-too-recent departure from the Planet, and she knew that, as soon as she regained enough strength, she would have to go and aid Holy in its fight against Meteor. But for this moment, she was content to simply to stand at what was soon to be the threshold to her (slightly unorthodox) happily ever after, held securely in the arms of her SOLDIER and pressing her lips to his.

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><p><strong>AN#2: If you want an image of what the cottage looks like, think of the Seven Dwarves' cottage from the 1939 animated _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_ and you have an idea of what Aerith's cottage looks like.**


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